What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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mancich
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by mancich »

"The Man who ran Washington". Great book about James A Baker III. 600 pages and it reads like a novel, it is fantastic. One of the best biographies I have read.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

Not currently, but I can highly recommend The Last Witnesses, by Svetlana Alexeivich. It’s a book of interviews of mostly Eastern European adults, many of whom are orphans, who experienced WW2 as children. Her other books look good too.
Last edited by AnnetteLouisan on Mon Jan 17, 2022 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Lou Sevens
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Lou Sevens »

multiple ones on my Kindles: Pandemia by Alex Berenson, Football for a Buck by Jeff Pearlman about the uSFL and No Way Back by J.B. Turner
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by digit8 »

Somehow I never read Bruce Catton's Civil War Trilogy so I'm now diving into the first part, The Coming Fury and.....yikes. The man had a gift for phrasing and detail, and overall it's definitely a good read, but it's tough for any scholarship of 1961 to hold up entirely well. I understand why he took the tack he did, and it wasn't unreasonable all things considered at that moment, but......."American politicians of 1860 could do almost anything except take a reasoned and disapssionate view of the situation" comes across today as a heckuva "both sides" take.
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Van
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Van »

EINSTEIN by Walter Isaacson. I'm half way through, and I still don't understand the General Theory of Relativity. I never will, but who cares. The life of this incredible genius, as painted by Isaacson, is the meat of this book. I got EINSTEIN after reading Isaacson"s CODE BREAKER about Jennifer Doudna and other folks involved in the discovery, application and ethical issues raised by the gene editing technique of CRISPR.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by BrianMc »

“Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be,” by Frank Bruni. The gist is many successful people did not attend the most exclusive colleges and universities. Per the book, “large public universities and tiny hideaways in the hinterlands - serve as ideal springboards.”
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Artful Dodger
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Artful Dodger »

Just finished U. S. Grant biography by Ron Chernow. Excellent book.

Also just finished "Frankly, We Did Win This Election", The Inside Story of How Trump Lost by the Wall Street Journal reporter, Michael Bender. Very readable.

Just started Adam Tooze's book on the 2008 financial crisis, Crashed.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Zeno »

Penrose, R. “Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness.”

Awarded a half share of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2020, Penrose explores consciousness and the human mind. Can the mind be explained by modern physics alone?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by BradJ »

The Count of Monte Cristo, so far so good.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by DrippingSprings »

The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman
This book is unusual and unique. It is both funny and tragic at the same time. It deals with material that has been covered elsewhere, but in a highly original way. The basic plot concerns an American ventriloquist who has been possessed by a dybbuk, a Jewish ghost, a few years after the end of WWII. I definitely recommend this one.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Pugs1351 »

Currently reading Power Play by Tim Higgins about how Tesla started. Halfway through and I’m enjoying it.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MoonOrb »

I'm finishing Ron Chernow's biography of George Washington and it's been very good. His bio of Alexander Hamilton is next up for me; I'm immersing myself in the colonial and founding period of the United States.
Last edited by MoonOrb on Sun Jan 23, 2022 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by quantAndHold »

The Overstory, by Richard Powers. A novel about several unrelated people, and their relationship with trees. The main story is about a group of people who were trying to save the old growth redwood forests in the 70’s. I’d like to say it’s good, but it’s so depressing I’m finding it hard to finish.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by OpenMinded1 »

Just finished, and thoroughly enjoyed, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. It's a historical novel published in 1931 that tells the story of a farmer's trials and tribulations in early 20th century China. It's a great story, and the book's description of peasant culture is fascinating.

The Good Earth is the first book in Buck's House of Earth trilogy, continued in Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935). It was the best-selling novel in the United States in both 1931 and 1932, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932, and was influential in Buck's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938.

After reading The Good Earth, I read Son's. Now I'm in the middle of A House Divided, the third book of the trilogy. Sons seems like a short bridge designed to tie The Good Earth and A House Divided together. Too early to tell whether I'll enjoy A House Divided.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MP173 »

One of my goals this year was to increase the number of nonfiction books read. I am a big fan of mystery fiction books and wished to broaden my horizon.

Just finished Ayelet Fishbach's "Get It Done"...not impressed. She is a University of Chicago PHD prof of behavior science and I came to the realization that either people "get it done" or they struggle. I never had a motivation issue, put it on the list or the mental list and do it. She and her fellow PHDs or wanna be PHDs certainly did a number of studies on people's motivations(primarily U of C) students...most picked the healthy snack rather than the tasty snack. Go figure.

Currently reading another non-fiction "Neil Young on Neil Young, Interviews and Encounters" edited by Arthur Lizie...a collection of interviews over the years. I am burned out on non fiction, but as they say, it is "better to burn out than it is to rust."

Looking for a good Michael Connelly - Harry Bosch book I havent read. Or John Verdon, John Sandford, DAvid Housewright, etc.

ed
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

[/quote]
MP173 wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:21 pm

Looking for a good Michael Connelly - Harry Bosch book I havent read. Or John Verdon, John Sandford, DAvid Housewright, etc.

ed
heartwood wrote: Mon Jan 10, 2022 12:55 pm Five Decembers by James Kestrel https://www.amazon.com/Five-Decembers-J ... 1789096111

Starts with the investigation of brutal murders on Oahu just before Pearl Harbor by a HPD detective. Then segues into Asia, esp Japan during WWII, then back to Hawaii after the war, hence the Five Decembers title.

I recommend it for fans of Mick Herron, S. A. Cosby and Michael Connelly.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by D. C. Pline »

I just finished Agatha Christie's Appointment With Death. It starts out slowly, and at first I thought I might not make it through, but then it gradually picks up, and I got in to it. This is my first book from Christie. Is this a typical story from her? Are some better than others? I plan to find another one to read soon. This one got picked sort of at random because it was available at the library.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

D. C. Pline wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:09 pm I just finished Agatha Christie's Appointment With Death. It starts out slowly, and at first I thought I might not make it through, but then it gradually picks up, and I got in to it. This is my first book from Christie. Is this a typical story from her? Are some better than others? I plan to find another one to read soon. This one got picked sort of at random because it was available at the library.
You are in luck!! She has any number of riveting mysteries! I envy you for having this experience ahead of you.
-Murder on the Orient Express
-And then there were None
I mean basically they are ALL excellent. You may want to choose whether you prefer Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple as the protagonist and start out with books featuring one or the other.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MP173 »

Thanks heartwood for recommendation.

ed
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ruralavalon
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:37 am
D. C. Pline wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:09 pm I just finished Agatha Christie's Appointment With Death. It starts out slowly, and at first I thought I might not make it through, but then it gradually picks up, and I got in to it. This is my first book from Christie. Is this a typical story from her? Are some better than others? I plan to find another one to read soon. This one got picked sort of at random because it was available at the library.
You are in luck!! She has any number of riveting mysteries! I envy you for having this experience ahead of you.
-Murder on the Orient Express
-And then there were None
I mean basically they are ALL excellent. You may want to choose whether you prefer Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple as the protagonist and start out with books featuring one or the other.
Also try

Death on the Nile, and

Murder in Mesopotamia.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

Duplicate post.
Last edited by bertilak on Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

Duplicate post.
Last edited by bertilak on Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

Duplicate post.
Last edited by bertilak on Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

Sorry about the duplicates! New phone! Apparently it leaves the submit button active even after it has already done the job. Or there is something I'm missing.
Last edited by bertilak on Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:27 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bertilak »

There are 33 Poirot novels and over 50 short stories. Once you have read a few you will want to read them all. All are good. No need to hunt for the best.

Next go for the Marples then the standalone novels.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MoonOrb »

I've moved on from Chernow's bio of Washington to his bio of Hamilton. It's every bit as good as I thought it might be--pages are flying by. Next up is either David McCulloch's John Adams bio or Plain Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution by Richard Beeman.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Wings5 »

The Martian, by Andy Weir

The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Trying to read about 15-30 pages of each, per day
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MAKsdad »

Notes From Underground

Figured I'm 45...time to read something by Dostoevsky.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Californiastate »

MoonOrb wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:58 pm I've moved on from Chernow's bio of Washington to his bio of Hamilton. It's every bit as good as I thought it might be--pages are flying by. Next up is either David McCulloch's John Adams bio or Plain Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution by Richard Beeman.
Chernow can get long in the tooth. I've read his Washington and Hamilton tomes. I'm hesitant to purchase his book on Rockefeller. I'm currently working on "Montcalm and Wolfe" and "The Last Days of the Incas."
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Mr. Rumples »

The thing about Chernow's books on Washington and Hamilton are what he left out. Chernow gets some grief - and rightly so - on his handling of Mary Ball Washington. For a different view of Washington's mother The Widow Washington: The Life of Mary Washington – by Martha Saxton might be of interest. Saxton admits her difficulty in writing a book about a woman who by today's standards was cruel, but in her time, her persistence was the only way for a widow to survive - admittedly, some things are very upsetting. Others are amusing such as the example of the expense she had with wigs...after all a young man out to meet a young lady needs a properly fitting wig so it doesn't slide off, head sizes differ so its not as if you can just use your brother's wig...Washington gave up wearing a wig when he was very young.

While Jefferson gets all the good press, he couldn't hold a candle to Washington's contributions to farming. For that see the newly released: Washington at the Plow: The Founding Farmer and the Question of Slavery by Bruce A. Ragsdale. In his heart, his passion was farming. He learned early on that slavery wasn't viable economically; Chernow does go into Washington's evolving views on slavery, but leaves out the innovations Washington made to farming: his invention of the drill plow, crop rotation, new fertilizers, changing in pasturing methods, to breeding, to how grain was separated from the stalk, these changes are still used today.
Last edited by Mr. Rumples on Tue Jan 25, 2022 4:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by D. C. Pline »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:37 am
D. C. Pline wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:09 pm I just finished Agatha Christie's Appointment With Death. It starts out slowly, and at first I thought I might not make it through, but then it gradually picks up, and I got in to it. This is my first book from Christie. Is this a typical story from her? Are some better than others? I plan to find another one to read soon. This one got picked sort of at random because it was available at the library.
You are in luck!! She has any number of riveting mysteries! I envy you for having this experience ahead of you.
-Murder on the Orient Express
-And then there were None
I mean basically they are ALL excellent. You may want to choose whether you prefer Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple as the protagonist and start out with books featuring one or the other.
The reason I chose to read these mysteries is that Agatha Christie was my mother's favorite author. I remember her raving about them and Poirot especially. I am still wondering whether they all follow a similar model, or each one is unique. She spent what seemed like many pages introducing the characters (and there were a lot of them, mostly from the same odd family), but in the end nobody was extraneous; Every character was critical to the (elaborate) plot. Eventually someone was murdered and Poirot investigates.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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OpenMinded1 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:06 pm Just finished, and thoroughly enjoyed, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. It's a historical novel published in 1931 that tells the story of a farmer's trials and tribulations in early 20th century China. It's a great story, and the book's description of peasant culture is fascinating.

The Good Earth is the first book in Buck's House of Earth trilogy, continued in Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935). It was the best-selling novel in the United States in both 1931 and 1932, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932, and was influential in Buck's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. ..
You might also like the outstanding 1937 film, The Good Earth, starring Paul Muni and Luise Rainer (Academy Award, Best Actress).
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by familythriftmd »

Anna Karenina (second time)
Apocalypse Never by Michael Shellenberger
Don Quixote
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by wabbott »

The World Rushed In: The California Gold Rush Experience - J. S. Holliday

Through the diary and letters of William Swain--augmented by interpolations from more than five hundred other gold seekers and by letters sent to Swain from his wife and brother back home--the complete cycle of the gold rush is recreated: the overland migration of over thirty thousand men, the struggle to “strike it rich” in the mining camps of the Sierra Nevadas, and the return home through the jungles of the Isthmus of Panama.

https://books.google.com/books?id=1cVgBwAAQBAJ
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

Finished a bunch of readable but slightly annoying Robert Parker Spenser novels. I'd stopped reading them some years ago and didn't realize there were a number I hadn't read:
  • Now and Then
  • Rough Weather
  • The Professional
  • Painted Ladies
  • Sixkill
I think that brings me up-to-date (as I have no interest in reading continuations by another writer).

Eh. OK. I wanted "the mixture as before" and that's what I got. They're a little like self-parody, and if we were uncomfortable with Hawk--Spenser's not-a-sidekick sidekick--it has gotten a little ridiculous, as it has gradually expanded to a personal team of sidekicks of assorted ethnicity, all willing to drop whatever they were doing and spend weeks working on Spenser's cases without pay.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by nisiprius »

And just started the latest Elizabeth George "Inspector Lynley" novel, Something to Hide.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by OpenMinded1 »

Fallible wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 3:21 pm
OpenMinded1 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:06 pm Just finished, and thoroughly enjoyed, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. It's a historical novel published in 1931 that tells the story of a farmer's trials and tribulations in early 20th century China. It's a great story, and the book's description of peasant culture is fascinating.

The Good Earth is the first book in Buck's House of Earth trilogy, continued in Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935). It was the best-selling novel in the United States in both 1931 and 1932, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932, and was influential in Buck's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. ..
You might also like the outstanding 1937 film, The Good Earth, starring Paul Muni and Luise Rainer (Academy Award, Best Actress).
Thanks. I've been trying to find a way to view it without paying for it. So far I haven't been able to.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Elsebet »

Braiding sweetgrass : indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Very nice mix of stories and science (botany), perfect for a gardening/nature enthusiast

The illustrated a brief history of time
by Stephen Hawking
Really enjoying this read, somehow he manages to make the subject digestible for us mere mortals (at least mostly, the quantum mechanics chapter is frying my brain)
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Wilderness Librarian »

Several recently:

Lookout: Love, Solitude and Searching for Wildfire in the Boreal Forest / Trina Moyles. (National Outdoor Book Award - can't remember what category) Part natural history part personal memoir of author's forest fire lookout in Northern Alberta & related family and relationship experience. I am noticing that this sort of combo is trend in nature writing.

Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains / Lucas Bessire. Another combo of nature writing & family memoir dealing with farming/ranching in western Kansas and the depletion of the Ogallala aquifer. Much of it is depressing even frightening considering the extent to which the nation's food production hinges on this water source and the author's assertion that some influential people are deliberately trying to zero the aquifer to replace it with an aqueduct.

Winterlust: Finding Beauty in the Fiercest Season / Bernd Brunner. Given to me as a Christmas present. Delightful and informative chapters on all kinds of different things pertaining to winter - Good illustrations too.

Pastoral Song: A Farmer's Journey / James Rebanks. On several best of year lists. Reestablishment of small scale sustainable farming practices in Lake District of England. Interesting to compare with High plains book above.

The Grizzly in the Driveway: the Return of Bears to a Crowded American West / Robert Chaney. Well researched focuses on recovery reintroduction and endangered species de-listing. Also on some best of the year lists.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Opinika »

I'm about 100 pages into The Spanish Civil war by Hugh Thomas.

Recently finished Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus by Samuel Eliot Morison.

Before that read Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Fallible »

Finished Klara and the Sun, a fascinating novel by Kazuo Ishiguro about a gifted robot who is purchased as an AF (artificial friend) for a young girl suffering from a mysterious illness. It's all wonderfully about Klara, how her machine works its wonders for the humans, who for me were interesting, but only bit players created to showcase Klara. It's so well written by this Nobel laureate that I was fully drawn into it from the beginning, the store where Klara and other AFs are put on display to sell and we begin to learn that Klara has special qualities for a humanoid such as feelings, being observant, insight, imagination, curiosity, fear, etc. But Klara also has limitations in perception and how she handles this often has humorous qualities. It's possible to get to know Klara so well that a reader could predict when "boxes" suddenly appeared to help her understand.

A minor frustration throughout for me was not being able to imagine what Klara looks like, other than a few features such as short, dark hair; yet humans in this near-future world immediately recognized all AFs. Also, my not being up enough on AI to better understand Klara's place among her kind, I was left with many questions about these machines in general. I thought finding answers would take away from the book, but they've only made it more interesting.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by backpacker61 »

digit8 wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 4:16 pm Somehow I never read Bruce Catton's Civil War Trilogy so I'm now diving into the first part, The Coming Fury and.....yikes. The man had a gift for phrasing and detail, and overall it's definitely a good read, but it's tough for any scholarship of 1961 to hold up entirely well. I understand why he took the tack he did, and it wasn't unreasonable all things considered at that moment, but......."American politicians of 1860 could do almost anything except take a reasoned and disapssionate view of the situation" comes across today as a heckuva "both sides" take.
I read one like that, but I think it's different than yours. Mine was called 'The Army of the Potomoc', and is also a trilogy.

He also wrote an autobiographical work; 'Waiting for the Morning Train', about growing up in Michigan, which I enjoyed very much.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by mancich »

Van wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 4:35 pm EINSTEIN by Walter Isaacson. I'm half way through, and I still don't understand the General Theory of Relativity. I never will, but who cares. The life of this incredible genius, as painted by Isaacson, is the meat of this book. I got EINSTEIN after reading Isaacson"s CODE BREAKER about Jennifer Doudna and other folks involved in the discovery, application and ethical issues raised by the gene editing technique of CRISPR.
I have to read Einstein; I've been looking at reading that for a while. Code Breaker was excellent. If you like Isaacson, also check out his bio on Steve Jobs, Benjamin franklin, and Da Vinci.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by SagaciousTraveler »

The Storyteller-Dave Grohl

Entertaining quick read about Dave Grohl's musical career. For those not familiar with the name, Grohl is most known for being the drummer in Nirvana and then starting the band Foo Fighters.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MP173 »

Just finished "Let Them Lead" by John Bacon.

Bacon has written several books, primarily sports related and merges Leadership with being a High School hockey coach in Ann ARbor, Mi during the early 2000's. In four years he developed a very good program at Huron High School after inheriting a winless team.

This "leadership" book was excellent in my opinion. Just the right mix of hockey with leadership.

Ed
MoonOrb
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MoonOrb »

Now reading "Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution," by Richard Beeman. So far it's readable and interesting and has been a good companion piece to other works on the Founding period that I've been reading lately.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jebmke »

MoonOrb wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:37 pm Now reading "Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution," by Richard Beeman. So far it's readable and interesting and has been a good companion piece to other works on the Founding period that I've been reading lately.
If you are interested in this era, I can also recommend "Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788" by Pauline Maier.

Maier was a student of Bernard Bailyn, arguably one of the top historians of the colonial and revolutionary era. Bailyn's works are extensive and excellent but sometimes a heavy lift. I found Maier very readable.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Opinika wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 3:04 pm I'm about 100 pages into The Spanish Civil war by Hugh Thomas.

Recently finished Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus by Samuel Eliot Morison.

Before that read Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts.
I think that Admiral of the Ocean Sea is an excellent biography of Christofer Columbus.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Random Poster »

Recently finished The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps, by Michael Blanding.

In short, the book is more about maps than the thief, and most of what is written about the thief is not about the thievery. I’d give it a 3 out of 5, but only because I like maps and the book was 50 cents. I sure wouldn’t pay full price for it.

Next up is Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Frasier. Two chapters into it and all I can say is “lots of words, not so much content.”
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by hudson »

sandburg wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 12:11 pm I read volumes 1 and 2 earlier this year. They're excellent too. Rick Atkinson's "The Liberation Trilogy" is also excellent. Mr. Atkinson's books are about the war in North Africa, Italy, and Western Europe.
Thanks!
I finished the Trilogy: Pacific Crucible, Conquering Tide, Twilight of the Gods, and Six Frigates...all by Ian Toll.
Now it's off to "The Liberation Trilogy."
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